SEA GIRT – Local officials are appealing to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for help with local flooding after a recent beach-replenishment project resulted in drainage problems last weekend that caused water to sweep streets and yards.

Mayor Ken Farrell explained that since July 28, the borough has had flooding problems resulting in clogged ocean outfall lines that developed after sand accumulated at the pipes on Neptune Boulevard and Baltimore Avenue.

After intervention from U.S. Rep Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J., and representatives from the state Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it will visit next week to analyze the situation.

Anthony Ciorra, chief of Coastal Restoration and Special Projects, wrote to Smith's office: "We have received your letter and a request from NJDEP to evaluate the outfall pipes to determine if they need to be extended. We will start the analysis by next week."

While sand accumulation is natural and expected, prevailing wind from the south has been the pattern for more than a week now, complicating the problem.

Each day since July 28, the borough had to send a Department of Public Works crew with a bulldozer to the ocean — sometimes twice a day and typically at low tide — to move the sand so the outfalls can do their job.

With recent rain, the situation is worse because the outfalls remained under water even at low tide, making the bulldozer useless, Farrell explained.

Before the beach replenishment project, Farrell said local officials spoke with representatives from the DEP and the Army corps, informing both agencies that the flooding situation developed after the last beach replenishment in 1997. They asked the corps to consider extending the outfalls during the course of the current project.

Request to extend pipes

The Army corps advised local officials that because the recent project was scheduled to return the beach to its pre-1997 profile, the engineers saw no reason to extend the outfall to prevent clogging, Farrell said.

The corps also said to expect a "certain amount of erosion and over time, from 2000 up to Sandy, that would probably be accurate," said Farrell.

"What has happened here is that the Army corps was clearing the pipe in December 2013 and things were OK for a number of months, but with the full moon (beginning July 23) and the wind coming up from the south for so long, it may amplify the littoral effect in which sand moves south to north," Farrell said.

"We have done our best to keep these pipes (clear) using our bulldozer" but the cost is beginning to add up, he said.

The borough last week reached out to state and federal legislators for help in convincing the corps to reconsider the plan not to extend the pipes, and Smith embarked on what he termed a "swift resolution" for the community.

In a letter to Col. Paul E. Owen, district engineer for the New York District of the Army corps, Smith said the borough has accumulated $6,871 in labor, overtime, equipment and pump-rental costs since July 28 and there is no relief in sight. Further, using the bulldozer in the abrasive sand environment is expected to reduce its life by 75 percent. Workers have been diverted from their assigned task, which is to maintain the borough's water system to deal with the outfall clogs and the accompanying flooding, Smith said.

"More importantly, however, the blockage of the outfall pipe poses a potential flooding risk to the borough," Smith said. "This past weekend when it rained, the water rose in a matter of 20 minutes, resulting in flooding of streets and yards — this after only one half inch of rain" in areas still recovering from superstorm Sandy, he said.

Sisyphean task for borough

"...As the borough administrator described, they embarked each day on the Sisyphean ritual of clearing the sand only to come back 24 hours later and do it again. And again," Smith said. "It is the ultimate exercise in futility and government inefficiency."

Smith said the Army engineers now will determine whether the pipe needs to be lengthened and asked that the analysis be done "as quickly as possible and mitigation expedited" for safety reasons and to minimize the financial implications for the borough.

A spokesperson for the corps could not be reached last week.

Farrell said if the corps opts not to undertake the project, the borough has been told it would have to apply for a Coastal Area Facility Review Act permit, causing more delays and costing more money.

The state permit is administered by the DEP. Spokesman Bob Considine said his agency has been made aware of the situation.

"On Monday, DEP's Coastal Engineering Department issued a formal letter to the New York District of the Army Corps of Engineers, asking that it look into the matter and possibly make a determination as to whether the outfall pipes should be extended or to make a judgment on when the shoreline would erode enough so the pipes would no longer be buried by the movement of the newly placed sand," Considine said.